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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28448889">I Dub Thee - The Boy Determined to Get Himself Killed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieCatSU/pseuds/CookieCatSU'>CookieCatSU</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>An oxymoron I know, Gen, He cares about Harry, He just won't admit that out loud, Protective Severus Snape, Snape is maladjusted</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:15:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>617</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28448889</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieCatSU/pseuds/CookieCatSU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Snape promised he would protect Harry.</p><p>Now if only the boy would stop making it so darn difficult.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Potter &amp; Severus Snape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I Dub Thee - The Boy Determined to Get Himself Killed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry was always getting himself into some kind of mess. The boy was ridiculously good at that. At times, Snape couldn't see any of his mother in him; not when he was running off to fight trolls in the boy's bathroom or falling off of broomsticks like a clutz.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was more like his father, frustrating and idiotic and just plain reckless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Snape's promised to protect the boy, regardless of the impossibility of the task; a vow stronger than any blood oath. It was a burden, one he sometimes wondered why he entertained. Then, he remembered Lily and her premature death at the hands of the Dark Lord (partially his fault), and thinks, I owe her at least this much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, he watches over her son. Even with a scowl on his face, and a sneer always at the tip of his tongue, he makes certain the boy is okay. Only out of obligation, and certainly not because he cared. He could never care about the fame obsessed, egotistical, boy who lived, never mind that his eyes were the same green of his mothers, with that same clairvoyance that could see right through someone to their very core. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't care. He would never care, Snape told himself 10 years before, as he's gazing at the letter from Dumbledore, unable to open the seal because he already knows the contents: feels it in the aching heaviness of his bones.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yet, he sees the boy dangling from that broomstick, and the burst of concern he feels is so overwhelming it's debilitating. His heart seems to stop and breathes, oxygen, simply won't come. It’s like he's about to lose Lily all over again, except he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>already</span>
  </em>
  <span> lost her; and in some ways it's nothing alike. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's somehow much worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stands up in the bleachers; bites back a concerned shout.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Snape's casting the counter spell, putting Harry back upright, before anyone can even realize something's wrong. From an outsider's perspective, he's simply swept up in the heat of the match- not scared out of his wits and panicking and hoping, hoping against all hope, that he isn't about to lose someone else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He's failed Lily once. He won't fail her again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy survives. Luck seemed to be on Harry's side (it always was, no matter how reckless or stupid he was). He doesn't fall off of his broom or slam into the pitch from 50 feet up. He wins the match.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, he finds the boy celebrating outside the great hall (celebrating even though he almost died). His friends scatter when they see the look in his eyes, annoyed, centered on the green eyed, raven haired boy. He stops to scold him,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was quite the stunt you pulled, Potter. Just have to be in the spotlight, do we?” Snape sneered, frustrated; though he really meant </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘How could you be so stupid, putting yourself in danger like that’.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy responds with a, “No sir,” grated through clenched teeth. Clearly gearing up for a fight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anger rises up in the man at the blatant disrespect, but he restrains himself. He wasn't about to battle with a child. He tempers his voice, and responds as cooly as he can,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe next time, you should refrain from all the midair flips” He says, sharp with antagonistic venom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry does not reply. He looks away, face flushed with embarrassment and most certainly anger, before he stomps off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Snape watches him go, both frustrated and relieved. He was alive at least.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Every year, The Boy Who Lived, always seemed doggedly determined to earn an even more elusive title: The Boy Destined to Die.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Snape had his work cut out for him.</span>
</p><p> </p>
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